1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an archery aid for improving shooting accuracy of an arrow and more particularly to apparatus for precluding an archer's bow holding hand from gripping the bow.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Objects
It is generally understood that during arrow release, an archer should not close his hand to grip an archery bow as such gripping tends to cause a "jerk" which results in an errantly shot arrow. This problem was appreciated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,666 issued to William C. Beverlin on Oct. 18, 1988. During arrow release, archers are not to close the fingers of the bow holding hand around the bow but rather the archer should keep an "open bow holding hand". One problem which is occasioned by keeping the bow holding hand open, however, is that the bow will drop after the bow string is released.
To preclude the bow from dropping, a bow sling, which couples the bow to the archer's wrist, has been provided such as that disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,666; U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,213 issued to A. E. Robinson on Sep. 10, 1963; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,312 issued to M. L. Foster on Mar. 23, 1971. The prior bow sling has not proved entirely satisfactory in that the bow sling sometimes tends to slip off the wrist of the bow holding hand. Moreover, even though a sling is provided, the natural tendency of the archer still is to grip the bow after arrow release. Unfortunately, the archer will anticipate arrow release and will tend to flinch and grip the bow prior to arrow release, so that the bow does not fall, and thus, shooting inaccuracy results. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an archery aid for maintaining open the bow holding hand during and after arrow release.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and novel archery aid for improving shooting accuracy.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide new and novel apparatus for precluding an archer's bow hand from gripping the outside front face of an archer's bow.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and novel archery aid for maintaining the fingers of an archer's bow support hand pointed forwardly in a direction toward the target.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a new and novel archery aid for maintaining the fingers of the bow support hand pointed forwardly in a direction parallel to a direction of an arrow to be propelled by the bow.
It is a still another object of the present invention to provide a new and novel archery aid which will relax the archer by insuring that the archer's bow holding hand will support, but not grip the bow throughout the arrow release.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and novel archery aid which will allow an archer to repeatedly and consistently hold an archery bow.
It has also been found that upon arrow release, the natural tendency of the bow is to rotate about a vertical axis in a direction transverse to the open palm of the bow hand. If this rotation occurs, the arrow will tend to be deflected. Handles have been pivotally mounted on a bow, such as that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,621 issued to Delvin A. Screbell on Aug. 17, 1971 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,287 issued to Charles E. Babington on Jul. 3, 1994, however, neither of these handles precludes the bow from turning about a vertical axis. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel archery aid which will inhibit bow rotation about its vertical axis bow upon arrow release.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stop plate which is mounted on a mid-portion of a bow adjacent a hand grip so as to be in the path of the fingers of a bow holding hand to preclude the fingers from gripping the bow.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a plate mounted on a mid-portion of a bow in the path of the fingers of a bow holding hand so that the fingers will exert force on the plate in a direction opposite the direction which the bow tends to rotate after arrow release.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an archery aid of the type described including mechanism for detachably securing at least one of the fingers on the archer's bow holding hand to the archery aid.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an archery aid of the type described wherein the mechanism for securing the finger comprises a band.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an archery aid of the type described wherein the apparatus for securing the fingers comprise a glove.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an archery aid of the type described wherein the apparatus for securing the fingers comprises apparatus for detachably coupling a finger receiving glove to a stop plate mounted on the side of an archery bow.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an archery aid of the type described wherein the band is adjustable.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an archery aid of the type described including a sling for holding the wrist of the bow shooter's hand and preventing the wrist from swinging outwardly away from the bow.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art as the description thereof proceeds.